Midwinter's Gift
by Herald Mistylenna
Summary: My first Christmas story even if it's not Christmas. I hope you'll like it. Elisa a young girl isn't happy with her life. She goes to find an answer to her question. But which one is the right answer?


Midwinter's Gift!  
  
A true Christmas/ Midwinter story  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I hope you all like my story. I wrote my rough draft in two days but I know I will make the story completely different from what I planned. But I still managed to get it done. I am so proud of myself! Enjoy the first Valdemaran Christmas Fanfiction! (Even if it is not yet Christmas)  
  
Disclaimer: Companions are not mine. Valdemar is not mine. Kelan, Gaven, Elisa, and Larina are mine, though.  
  
  
  
'Work, work, work!' thought Elisa as she swept the floor. 'Why is there always work?'  
  
At the Stony Inn, there was always work. Particularly when it was winter. Travelers going to visit their family wanted protection at night. Stony Inn, as it was called, was known for its safe walls. The original owner had a fear of robbers and had built the whole inn of stone.  
  
"Lass, what's taking you so long?" her uncle, the innkeeper, called from the common room. He was a strong man, but very ordinary: brown eyes, brown hair, and tan skin. His two sons had inherited his looks.  
  
"I'm almost done sweeping and then I'll make next day's bread," answered Elisa.  
  
Her uncle nodded and turned toward his room. Elisa sighed quietly. Since her aunt had died, she found herself taking her place. That was four years ago. Elisa was now fourteen.  
  
After sweeping the floor, she began to make the dough. "It's not fair," she whispered. "I do all the work while Kelan and Gaven run around with their friends all day. Why doesn't Uncle do anything about them?"  
  
She already knew the answer. Her uncle had still not recovered from his wife's death. It was so sudden; she had just never woken up from her sleep one morning. The Healer had just said heart failure, when asked about the cause of death. That didn't make any sense to Elisa. Her aunt had been so strong. How could her heart just stop?  
  
No one had answers for her. Her two cousins wouldn't help with any work and her uncle didn't know anything about the kitchen. It was all left to her.  
  
The bread was finished and Elisa put it into the oven for the night. Exhausted as she was, she still managed to get to her room. Looking into the small mirror in her room, she smiled. A big girl with ebony black hair and light-green eyes smiled back at her. No one in the village looked anything like her. Thinking of her parents, she felt sad. Her smile vanished as she remembered that night. She had woken up in the middle of the night and immediately known she had to get out. It was a good thing that she did because she was the only one who survived the fire.  
  
That fire had killed her parents and brother. That fire that had seemed like it was an accident. Elisa banished these thoughts from her mind. At the age of five, she had not noticed that the whole village had been jealous of her family's wealth.  
  
'They took me in and fed me. They convinced my uncle to let me stay here, so that I don't remind them of what they did.' Elisa knew she should be grateful to the village, but after a hard day of work, she just couldn't. She blew out the candle and went to bed.  
  
~*~*~ (The next day, sometime in the afternoon)  
  
"Please?"  
  
"Absolutely not!" Elisa snapped at her cousins. They were two years older than she was.  
  
"It's for a Midwinter's gift for father," said Gaven and Kelan nodded.  
  
Elisa sighed. She knew very well for what the money would be used for: drinking! They had once again no money to spend. As always, they asked her for some money. "I earned my money. You should too, instead of gambling and drinking everything away," she scolded them and had the satisfaction of seeing them pale. They'd rather run away than do some honest work or help her.  
  
"Please Eli? We'll pay you back once we earn some more money," Kelan whined, using her old name, and did his imitation of a hurt puppy.  
  
Elisa wanted to say no, but she couldn't. It was soon Midwinter, and they had reminded her that Midwinter was about sharing and family.  
  
She gave them a few coins and they vanished from the kitchen. "Midwinter!" whispered Elisa with anger. How she hated that word. It represented everything she could never have: family and friends. Her uncle was so distant to her and her cousins only acknowledged her presence when they needed something from her. Children in the village were kept away from her because of the fire. Really, the only person who she had been close to, had been her aunt, who was dead now.  
  
Elisa sniffed and wiped her tears away. Crying were for the weak, she reminded herself. She wasn't weak. But she couldn't stop crying. How she wished that just once she could have a real Midwinter with family and friend.  
  
"Selfish," she reminded herself. "There are people who have less than me. I should be glad that I have food and shelter."  
  
She stopped stirring the soup as she thought of something. "What if there is another meaning to Midwinter?" she asked herself aloud. "There must be many children who don't have a family. What if the meaning of Midwinter is something entirely different?"  
  
That decided Elisa. She would find the real meaning of the shortest day of the winter.  
  
"I'm going to the village, Uncle," she yelled as she ran to get her cloak.  
  
"Make sure to find your cousins. We're expecting important guests very soon," he said to her as she ran past. He hadn't noticed that it was still early in the afternoon and guests wouldn't be arriving for a few candlemarks at least.  
  
Elisa mumbled an affirmation as she followed the road to the village. The inn was out of sight of the village, but it seemed to take Elisa only a few minutes on the familiar road, when she arrived at the gates. She was slightly out of breath when she arrived at the temple.  
  
Father Avril was just dismissing the children for the afternoon when she found him. Father Avril was the priest and teacher in the village. He had never made Elisa feel like an outsider and had answered all of Elisa's question before.  
  
Father Avril smiled. "What can I do for you, my daughter?" he asked when she had gotten enough rest so that she could reply without gasping for breath.  
  
"Father, what is the meaning of Midwinter?"  
  
He was surprised at her question. Although he considered Elisa a bright child, the priest had thought her to be unimaginative.  
  
"Midwinter is a day to thank the Gods for the good harvest we have had this year," he told her solemnly with a small smile on his face.  
  
Elisa smiled politely and after a few moments more of talking, she excused herself. The next person she would ask was the Guard stationed in the center of town in case of attack.  
  
The man looked up as he heard Elisa approaching. "What is the matter girl?" he asked as soon as Elisa had stopped running, fearing it was an emergency of some sort that required him.  
  
"Sir, do you know the meaning of Midwinter?"  
  
He answered, "It is a time when no one fights over anything and everything is peaceful. Now run along before you distract me further from my work!"  
  
Elisa did as she was told. She already knew more about Midwinter but she wanted to ask one more person.  
  
She ran to a small cottage at the back of the village. There, Healer Ana lived. The house was full of odd plants and medicines. From her own experiences, Elisa knew that some tasted good, but most were horrible. But Healer Ana was supposedly trained at the Collegium. Surely she knew the true meaning of Midwinter.  
  
"Healer Ana, what is the meaning of Midwinter?"  
  
Healer Ana looked up from what she was doing and faced the girl. Her white hair was gracefully parted. "It is a time of rest," the healer announced in a firm voice that belied her age. "A time when I don't have to deal with injuries and annoying questions."  
  
Elisa quickly left the Healer to her work. She looked up at the sky and noted that she should find her cousins and head home soon.  
  
Elisa headed to the "Drinking House" as many people called the place where they younger generation could come and meet friends and drink. As expected, Kelan and Gaven were there. They were both surprised and embarrassed that she had to come and fetch them home.  
  
On the way to the inn, Elisa thought about the answers she had received. But which one was the right one?  
  
"You're awfully quiet, Elisa. What are you thinking about?" questioned Gaven.  
  
Elisa glanced up at them. They were both taller than she was even though she was considered tall for her age. "What do you think is the meaning of Midwinter?"  
  
Kelan laughed. "Midwinter is a time of joy. When you dance all day long and wine is free."  
  
Gaven added, "And all the girls.." he blushed, realizing what he had wanted to say in front of his younger cousin.  
  
"Look," Elisa exclaimed as the inn came into view. "A Companion and a Herald."  
  
As they rushed to see, Elisa's uncle came into view. "Gaven, Kelan, help Elisa. She knows what to do," he ordered and turned away.  
  
Elisa faced both of her cousins as she said, "Gaven, you show the Companion the stables, groom him, and give him some food. Kelan, you are coming with me."  
  
Both of them obeyed her for once. As Gaven led the Companion, Elisa marched to the kitchen. She got a pitcher of ale and a cup, and sent Kelan to the Herald.  
  
He returned quickly and she sent him back with a platter of the best food the inn could make. As she settled into the familiar routine, her mind was thinking.  
  
"None of the answers are wrong, but the don't seem right either," she told herself. The noise of the common room drowned out the sound of her voice.  
  
Elisa sighed. "How can there be more than one meaning?" she asked no one in particular.  
  
~*~*~ (About two candlemarks later)  
  
Slowly, the people left the inn and the Herald retired to his room. Elisa finished the work in the kitchen and went to her room. Her cousins and her uncle had gone to bed long ago.  
  
Elisa walked quickly, but quietly, not wanting to disturb the Herald, but the door to his room opened, startling Elisa.  
  
"I didn't mean to frighten you," the young Herald replied. "But my Companion is not comfortable in your stable."  
  
Elisa's mind was completely blank, but she managed to stammer out, "I'll go there now, sir."  
  
The Herald smiled in gratitude and closed the door. Elisa quietly ran to the stables. She slipped inside. The Companion raised his white head. He was like a patch of snow in the darkness of the stable.  
  
Elisa looked to see what was wrong. She sighed when she what Gaven had done. Or, more specifically, not done. The stallion was in a normal box, used for ordinary horses. Sighing again, Elisa opened the door and led him to the loose boxes used by Companions. She also gave him more water and food.  
  
The Companion looked at her. :Thank you: she heard a voice say. Elisa gasped and looked around. Nobody was in the stable.  
  
"I must be hallucinating due to lack of sleep," Elisa whispered and went to her bed. The Companion watched her leave, then settled himself and went to sleep. It began to snow outside. It was two weeks before Midwinter.  
  
~*~*~*~ (At night, at Stony Inn, Elisa is sleeping)  
  
Elisa stood on the edge of a forest. Snow covered the ground. It was a landscape, frozen by the white breath of winter.  
  
"What a beautiful landscape winter makes," a musical voice said behind Elisa. She turned around. Behind her stood a girl. She wasn't more then twelve years old, but there was an air around her that made her seem wise beyond her years.  
  
"I know why you are here," the girl told Elisa. The girl had breathtaking ice-blue eyes-eyes that could freeze you or warm you-and white hair that seemed as frozen as the forest behind them. The dress she wore was the palest of blue shades, which almost seemed white. It was almost as if it was made of a fine, but not translucent ice. Even her skin was pale. She looked like a snow maiden.  
  
"You are here because you want to know the meaning of Midwinter," the girl continued. "But now I see that you already know what it means. You just have to put it together and see it together."  
  
Elisa stood, unable to comprehend who this person was. Then she realized something the girl had said.  
  
She faced the girl. "Midwinter is whatever anyone thinks it is," she said. "All of the answers I got didn't feel right because they weren't my answers. Everyone has a different meaning of Midwinter and everyone's answers is right to them but not for somebody else maybe."  
  
The girl smiled. "And so you have discovered what few know. The true meaning of Midwinter is something that everyone knows in their hearts but few can discover their heart." She laughed in content and vanished.  
  
~*~*~*~*~ (In the morning)  
  
Elisa awoke with the dream still fresh in her mind. With a feeling of joy, she began her chores in the kitchen. Since the Herald needed to leave early in the morning, she brought him his breakfast outside.  
  
The Herald smiled at her as he accepted his breakfast and his Companions nodded at her in greeting. But before they could leave, they heard bells ringing far off but coming nearer at great speed. As soon as her cousins and uncle had run to see where the sound was coming from, a Companion mare approached at a gallop.  
  
The mare, aware of all eyes upon, stopped abruptly and proceeded at a normal pace to the inn. She stopped in front of Elisa.  
  
Looking into blue eyes, Elisa heard a cheery voice say :And a happy and white Good Morning to you, my dear Elisa. I am Larina and I Choose you!:  
  
A cough startled her out of her trance. Elisa looked around to find her uncle had gotten together some food for her journey to Haven and Kelan and Gaven had not been lazy-for once-and had gathered most of her things in a pack. In a daze, Elisa heard herself giving instructions how to clean, cook, and do her chores the most effective way. The Herald also gave her instructions on how to reach Haven.  
  
It wasn't until they were well on the road before she woke up. "Why did you Choose me?" she asked Larina, who had slowed to a canter to her hear Chosen.  
  
:Because you have all the right ethics not to mention a self- sacrificing personality that is just right for a Herald: Larina replied calmly, looking back at her Chosen.  
  
"But I can't be a Herald!" cried Elisa.  
  
:Why not?: demanded Larina.  
  
Elisa couldn't think of anything. She didn't want to leave Larina but she had responsibilities . "My uncle needs me," she finally said.  
  
:Your cousins can handle it. They should know what hard work feels like: Larina said, and Elisa managed a weak chuckle. :And besides you would be wasted on them. Not many Heralds can listen to their hearts. You should share the joy with other.:  
  
Elisa laughed. "Let's get to Haven and race the wind," she yelled to the wind and Larina whickered and galloped off.  
  
~*~*~*~ (Two weeks later)  
  
It was Midwinter and a lone Companion approached the gate. The Guard let them pass and they approached the stable. The Dean was already waiting to greet them.  
  
"Hello Elisa and welcome to the Collegium."  
  
Elisa smiled. "I've come at the best time of the year to begin a new life. It's Midwinter after all!"  
  
Happy laughter filled the air.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
The girl smiled down at Elisa. 'It looks like she never needed me after all.'  
  
The angle spread her wings. There were more children who needed protection. This girl was lucky. Others were not.  
  
As the angle flew over Haven, the inhabitants felt a glimmer of hope enter their hearts. Several children looked up at the sky. They didn't see anything, but felt it just the same. The girl smiled again. Only Companions could see her. And one special little girl back at the Collegium.  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Aren't you proud of me? I typed 8 pages. Even though now my hands hurt so I won't be able to type any more for quite a while. See, I typed this in five hours because I couldn't sleep and now this happens. I like this story. Merry Christmas and please review. Everyone needs a bit of hope! 


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